No, there’s never

a day that you’re

 not being evaluated

by SOMEone!

     Maybe you thought  since you run your business or department that you have passed all the tests and no longer need to be on the alert for others’ assessments? Braaaaaaaat! Wrong! You are being evaluated right this very minute by SOMEone, even as you read this.

     How do I know?  Because years of frontline experience as a consultant, writer, and teacher have proven the point thousands of times over.  Business owners, managers and entrepreneurs are high-profile folks who — like it or not — project parental images to almost all employees, many customers and most suppliers. YOU are a surrogate Mommy or Daddy. Yes, you are!

     And that image carries certain responsibilities.  You don’t have to agree with me or like what you’re hearing, but it’s the absolute truth! At some level, which is arguably different for everyone, people think of their bosses as parents. They won’t admit it, but they do!

     So, Daddy and Mommy,  if you want productivity from your employees, sales from your customers and cooperation from your suppliers (and referrers and investors, by the way), you need to adjust your attitude to make the most of the recognition afforded you, even if it is an unconscious and/or unwelcome level of recognition.

     Does this mean  you should now start treating everyone around you like children? Hardly. It does mean, though, that you need to be a touch more neurotic than you already may be because you need to be — as Thoreau once advised — forever on the alert!

     Like accepting the heat if you work in the kitchen,  recognizing and making the most of the respect accorded you is not only necessary, it is a great opportunity. Every encounter you have every day with every employee and customer and supplier is an chance to demonstrate your leadership and your integrity.

     You are being watched  when you think no one’s looking. You are being listened to when you think no one’s paying attention. You are having your Tweet read on twitter by someone somewhere who could make a difference for you and your business.

     Don’t make yourself into a basket case  over this news. Choose instead to honor and respect those who look up to you and who seek your guidance and who lurk quietly in the shadows waiting to learn from you.

     You have what it takes.  You got to where you are because you believe in yourself and your ideas. Accept the responsibility to lead and motivate and encourage and teach others around you because it will come back to you when you least expect it. Guaranteed! 

# # #

  FREE blog subscription: Posts RSS Feed

  Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Minds Open Doors 

   Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Your Small Business

Management Methods 

Getting Stale? Try This.

     It’s already September.  If your business is going to survive the year, you’d better get on the stick! Counting holidays, you’ve only got about 70 business days left in the year! Now is the time to hustle your butt! With Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Jewish holiday slowdown periods thrown in, you’re looking at super crunch time.

     This impending brain drain  is only going to be worse if you’re starting to feel like the economy has clobbered you into la-la land (and you don’t even live near Los Angeles!), and you and your business are getting stale.

     You’re trying? BS!  Stop trying and DO something about it! Hold a garage sale! You will get such a rude awakening by forcing yourself (and neighbors, if you’re the energetic type) to face up to the realities a garage sale produces:

• agreeing  with yourself to let go of prized possessions for a fraction of the prices you paid

• collecting  all these items together from every corner of your home

• pricing  and labeling each item

• picking  appropriate hours, obtaining necessary permits, and scheduling your life accordingly

• promoting  and advertising with posters, local newspaper ads, flyers and signs

• moving  your complete inventory into your driveway or yard or garage 

• making  sure you have enough change and single dollar bills on hand     

• displaying  your inventory in the most appealing manner (and, heartily recommended, writing an informative or enticing headline for each major piece you offer for sale

• dealing  with garage sale “professionals” who will come knocking at your door 30-60 minutes before your announced time — an interruption you can count on even if you advertise 6am; they’ll show up with flashlights; set your coffeemaker for 4:30am

• smiling  and greeting every visitor like a long lost cousin without being too pushy or too salesy

• moving  and rearranging items to keep most enticing-looking items up front and to keep table surfaces constantly filled

• accepting  that some people will rip you off by short-changing you and/or by outright stealing stuff when your back is turned — and that it’s generally best to bite the bullet and ignore these incidents by reminding yourself how desperate or deranged an individual has to be to be trying to make off with an extra dollar and a quarter’s worth of junk

• returning  unpurchased merchandise without feeling rejected

• inventorying  your sore feet and back, as you count up your meager profits

     If this experience  doesn’t turn you and your business attitude into a fresh new direction overnight, I’d be astonished. The experience of being the whole business and making all decisions and responding instantly and keeping positive customer relations as you make sales, is enlightening to say the least.

     The awareness’s  and perspectives you gain will shed new light on your business and freshen up the approach you’re taking to make the rest of this year work FOR you! 

# # #

  FREE blog subscription: Posts RSS Feed

  Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Minds Open Doors 

   Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

When you give people the

benefit of doubt, they’ll take it!

     If it’s leadership  you seek to provide and succeed with, DO NOT give people “the benefit of doubt”! Just don’t! I think that 99 times out of 100, you’ll be sorry! You’re in sales, or you own your own business, or manage a business or major part of a business… all, one in the same; all require you to be selling something all day every day!

     When you give someone  — a customer, a prospect, an employee, a vendor, a referrer, an investor — the benefit of doubt, she or he will take it. And what creek does that leave you up without a paddle? Why set yourself up for reaping non-performance?

     Isn’t it like having someone  with a poor track-record for reliability telling you the check is in the mail? What’s the worst that can happen by you being an assertive non-believer? You end up making a wrong judgment about some one’s behavior? Then apologize and get on with life.

     It happens every day.  Life is too short to wallow in having made a bad judgment call. On the other hand, by calling the other person’s hand (politely of course; nowhere here am I even suggesting a demanding or arrogant or feisty or pushy or aggressive tone; nowhere!), you will simply be jogging a slow responder.

     My best totally non-cynical guess,  by the way, is that slow responder is a term that probably describes a minimum of half the people on the planet. And many of these folks will actually be grateful for the little prod. So stop annoying yourself with thoughts that you may be annoying to others.

     Your job  is to get your job done, right? And hopefully it’s to accomplish that task in the most respectful and considerate manner possible. But maybe it’s time to examine whether you are in fact getting your just reward, getting what you’re entitled to, and getting your due in a timely fashion.

     I’m not just talking about collecting payments here.  Decision-making delays are at least as big, if not bigger, of a culprit to contend with. It doesn’t take long for a sales pro to learn that “maybe” is the worst possible response to get from a prospect or customer. “No” means you can cut the line and let the customer or prospect drift out to see with a smile and wave.

     “Maybe” means now you have to hang on  to making repeated efforts at repeated expense with repeated energy and still only have 50-50 odds of success. People who say “maybe” or tell you to “call back” next week, next month, next year, are, in my opinion, time-wasters 99% of the time!

     They do not deserve the benefit of doubt.

     And if you give it to them,  repeatedly, you may be looking at some pretty miserable odds for ulcers and business failure. I once had a very successful and highly respected sales manager who kept this sign over his desk:

BE NICE. BE FIRM. BE DIRECT. BE UNDERSTANDING.

LISTEN. BUT DON’T GIVE OR TAKE ANY CRAP!

GET (AND VALUE!) A “YES” OR “NO”!  

# # #  

When you’re getting screwed…

• Scenario A.  You bust your butt to provide the Smashface Cosmetics Company with superior package designs. Your performance exceeds their expectations and definite sales can even be traced to your efforts. . . They thank you and tell you that they’ll not be honoring your agreed-to fees, and you’ll have to accept a 30% cut because “as you know, times are tough right now”! 
• Scenario B.  The Breaka Ubones Surgery Group thanks you for putting in 20 hours a week (instead of the contracted 10) to develop their medical practice, but you haven’t delivered them enough hip and knee replacements in the past 30 days and they need the fee they’re paying you for a golf sponsorship.
• Scenario C.  Your management/marketing consulting input resulted in the Half- Moon-Half-Hour-Room-Rental Motel purchasing 14 new mattresses that are now bedbug infested. It’s your fault, they say, and they refuse to honor your management consulting fee until all the bedbugs are gone, and even then, only if you do them a free website upgrade and revise their brochure.
• Scenario D.   You get an audience with a major company that asks for rush help launching a new product. You do a quick come back with a comprehensive startup plan. They thank you then issue a RFP to four of your competitors for the same job. . . You ask to be included. They agree. You work for three full days, produce a ten-page proposal that works (at 30% lower fee than others propose). They hire a firm that gives them a fancy presentation, and then ask you to submit ideas for another project.

HA!  YOU MUST BE KIDDING!

FIRE ‘EM!

T H E Y    D O N ‘ T    D E S E R V E    Y O U .

     Besides, they’ll make you broke,  and they’ll never respect you anyway. Get rid of them. Walk away. And unless your brother is a great business lawyer, forget about pursuing legal action. Just take it on the chin, and walk. Of course you can afford to let them go. How affordable is it for you to continue? Use the time and energy you save to go get a new client!

     There comes a point where your time and energy are not worth the hunt.  And you need to be able to drop the deal and move on to other people and situations where you can make a difference and where your input will be respected. Integrity always finds its reward!

     Life is too short  to waste time and energy on stupid people with hidden agendas. 

# # #  

Mandated national healthcare

means mandated

national poverty!

There is only one solution  to dealing with U.S. healthcare costs escalating faster than inflation:

Business competition through privatization on a state-by-state basis.

The sooner  the government gets this and takes REAL steps in this direction, the quicker we’re going to see healthcare that’s both meaningful and affordable! 

There’s no longer any doubt  about it. Just listen to the experts. Look into the heart and soul of your own business experience. Small business simply cannot survive the financial crush of a mandated, dictated, universal healthcare plan for all citizens!

If you own or operate a business,  and you are not all-out crusading for healthcare delivery through business competition and privatization on a state-by-state basis, you are living in fantasyland.

Your business will  positively surf into the poorhouse on the next big wave. You and your business have one chance to survive, and only one…

That single chance rests squarely on your shoulders. It may require you to take steps you’ve never taken before.

It requires you to  contact your elected representatives and tell them that you do NOT want dictated, mandated healthcare because it will break what’s left of the economy’s back, bankrupt small businesses everywhere, and lead to exceptionally LOW quality professional care.

After all, do you  really want some know-nothing politician from 2o States away dictating what doctors you can and can’t see for a sick or injured loved one, or for yourself?

Are you ready and willing to put your life decisions  in the hands of someone with no healthcare knowledge, and who doesn’t even understand the business of healthcare, and then –on top of all that– end up with an inferior, low-grade, poorly-trained care provider?

We have decision-makers who lack even basic business knowledge and experience but who are making business decisions about our healthcare that are impacting all of our lives.

We (all of us who own and operate our own businesses) need to barge into this  the same way we would if some unknowledgeable, inexperienced upstart arrived at our doorsteps tomorrow morning and tried to wrest control of our businesses from us.

These are,  after all, the circumstances that are in fact headed for our doorsteps right now.

Will YOU speak up  to protect what you have built and created and what is rightfully yours, or stand aside and let uninformed outsiders rush in to re-set your business stage with fantasy props and the underpinnings of bankruptcy?  Call. Write. Email. Today. 

# # #  

… not the “beaten” path,

nor the one “less taken”

     When the last time you took a brand new business path? A new product launch? A new line or service extension? A new revenue stream? A new employment position? A new set of objectives, strategies, tactics? A new mission statement? A new vision statement? A new business start up?

     Was it successful? Did you bite the dust? What did you learn from it? Did you manage to stir up a lot of excitement that produced no payoff? Did you drag your butt into the thing and be greeted with enthusiasm personified? Did you charge at it head down and get a concussion when that wall came at you from out of nowhere?

     As any jungle-dweller will readily attest, (and, yes, it IS a jungle out there!) taking a new path often requires the help of a machete and a whole lot of adrenaline. This means you may need to be ruthless as a fruit tree pruner in swinging that sword to create your path or passageway.

     Clinging to old practices won’t help you now anymore than a crank-up rotary dial phone and a ream of carbon paper (if you don’t know what either of these are, you are probably a reckless, young entrepreneur who doesn’t have any old practices to cling to anyway, and you might as well go zoom off to Facebook right now . . . or something).

     On the other hand, if you’re a bit older than the txtmsg generation and you’re a true entrepreneur who’s only willing to take reasonable risks, and you’re sincerely committed to launching a successful venture, OPEN YOUR MIND.

     Be receptive to all the people, places, and things that –until now– you would never have considered worthy of your time and attention. Why? Because some of the world’s greatest ideas… the ones that really put a new venture over the top… come from forcing yourself to think differently!

     A fleeting exposure to yoga, or a snorkeling or grocery-shopping trip, or an hour of playing on the floor with a baby or a puppy, or telling your least favorite brother-in-law that you love him! You’d be surprised at the doors that your open mind will open if you’ll just give it the chance!

     You’ve come this far, isn’t it worth a short experiment to put your brain in a completely opposite/foreign situation/environment –even for an hour– to see if something clicks that can put your venture over the top. Of course it is! Don’t cheat yourself of a great possibility. OPEN MINDS OPEN DOORS!          

# # #  

Does “Boardwalk Mentality”

Dominate Your Business?

     In a diner, I might expect it,  but I visited a doctor’s office today where a beautiful, large, flatscreen TV was broadcasting full volume coverage of the funeral of a man with a track-record of highly-questionable morals, who almost single-handedly was responsible for influencing  Federal Government leadership to wreck havoc on the entire US healthcare system.

     It seemed a strange backdrop  for a medical doctor… over-the-top accolades for a leading advocate of virtually dispensing with the entire spectrum of quality physician care. Are you so out of touch, doctor, that you think it just doesn’t matter what impressions you foster in your own waiting room?

     You surely never supported  the fanatical radical ideas that man nurtured, or you wouldn’t even be in practice, yet you choose to promote them to your patients? And don’t make the excuses that your receptionist picked the station. It’s your practice.

__________________________

     As a favor to a friend,  I recently gave a retailer a sample product to consider stocking. This product performed twice as effectively, lasted twice as long, and was twice as efficient, environmentally, as the product he presently sold. Oh, and it was half the price! He refused it.

     Did I mention that this product  also had no shipping costs because it was produced in the next town and that a percentage of the proceeds was kicked back to a community program that the retailer’s wife was engaged with? “No,” he said, “I don’t want it because it lasts too long, and I need repeat sales here so it’s better that the things people buy break down; then they have to come back for more!”

     Are YOU this out of touch?

__________________________

     When I taught business  at Ocean County College, near the famous boardwalks of Point Pleasant, Belmar, Seaside Heights, Asbury Park and Atlantic City, I used to refer to this out-of-touch kind of thinking as having a “Boardwalk Mentality.”

     Boardwalk stand owners  and operators fostered the attitude for years (and some, unfortunately, still do) that it’s okay to rip people off to get their money because –first of all, they’re on vacation and don’t really care how much they spend and –second, because those people will never be back again anyway, and even if they are, they won’t remember getting bilked.

     Obviously this kind of “screw the customer” thinking  doesn’t cut it anymore… neither does the suggestion of support for the antithesis of quality patient-care standards and your professional career, doctor!

# # #  

“Uh, let’s see, Beer Fest?

Chunkin’ Punkin?

Or 5-Mile Run?”

     You can’t even dream up  an event that some business isn’t sponsoring these days! And aren’t we all suckers for the fundraising solicitations of candy-bar-bearing cherubic-smiling Brownie troops, aluminum can-collecting T-ball teams and car-washing high school cheerleaders?

     And of course there’re  the church bake sales, fire department carnivals, VFW clambakes, and all the other terrific events that are the very fabric of small town America.

     How great is the temptation  to get behind everything that comes along? How special it feels to be the stuff that a community-minded business leader is made of? But you know what? Today more than ever, you need to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with your business and face (ta-ta-ta-ta, ta-ta!): reality!

     Sponsoring charities and community events  is a truly wonderful and charitable behavior and experience BUT… do not hesitate to focus whatever time, effort, money, products and services, and attention you contribute on situations that will have some return on your investment! 

     If you’re going to give money away,  make it count for yourself as well as the recipient. You worked hard to earn it. There’s nothing wrong with your business getting some recognition in the process.

     Ack! That’s a terrible thing to suggest,  you may say. But, no. It’s a realistic thing to say, and here’s why:

     If you want to quietly  and anonymously plunk a thousand bucks into a deserving cause that has nothing whatsoever to do with your business or your customers or your employees or your suppliers, or your community you might as well be throwing it out the window!

     If you want to do that  for a cause that does have some business-related value, you might as well be throwing it out the window! And if you throw enough out the window, you put your business in jeopardy.

GIVE FROM YOUR HEART BUT USE YOUR BRAIN TO PICK THE CIRCUMSTANCES.

     The more you contribute  to situations that help enhance your business name and posture, the more loyalty and sales you’ll build so the more you can be in a position to donate more! It’s called “Enlightened Self-Interest”! If you find that each year, more and more groups and organizations seem to be chasing after your support and it’s getting too draining:

     Establish an annual budget  (with a sidecar emergency fund) and stick to it; direct latecomer solicitors to put their dibs in earlier next year because your budget is all appropriated. This doesn’t mean you’re a scrooge.

     It means you’re being smart  about what you choose to support and the amounts that won’t cripple your business so that you can make your contributions be more productive for your business so you can increase your budget next year.

     The other step  that many business owners take is to establish a private non-profit foundation specifically for the purpose of screening and awarding and managing charitable and community contributions. Many of these entities even conduct their own fundraising programs to support needy organization causes and events.              

    # # #  

Has your brain been

thunder-struck?

     We’ve all heard  and probably used the term “Brainstorming” a few times, but when did you last use a formalized “Brainstorming” process? Did you know that the more rigidly structured approach you use, the more free-flowing and better the brainstorming results?

     I’ve probably  run 500 formal brainstorming sessions, and all have produced great results. Here’s my version of a “recipe” I follow. Print it out. Use it. It works!

[Adapted from the Pfeiffer and Jones University Associates Handbook of Structured Experiences for Human Relations Training, Volume III (Revised)].  

     THE GOALS: 

     1)  To generate an extensive number of innovative thoughts or ideas, or solutions to a problem, by suspending criticism and judgment and evaluation.

     2)  To develop skills in creative thinking and problem-solving.

     Group Size:  Any number of small groups (best if composed of 5-6 participants each). Time Required:  Approximately one hour total. Materials:  White board or newsprint pad with markers for each group; stopwatch; bell. Physical Setting:  Movable chairs for all participants. Warm-up Activity:  In 2 minutes –without talking– make something out of one double newspaper page, or one lump of modeling clay; follow with quick show ‘n tell.

     THE PROCESS: 

     1)  The facilitator has each group form a circle and select a secretary, then provides each secretary with markers and board or newsprint pad, and asks each to record every idea generated by the group.

     2)  The facilitator states the following rules: 

• A)  There will be NO criticism, no judgments, and no evaluations during the brainstorming phase of the activity.
• B)  Far-fetched ideas are encouraged because they often trigger more practical ones.
• C)  Many ideas are desirable.

     3)  The facilitator announces that participants are to imagine being cast ashore on a desert island with absolutely nothing but a belt, then tells the group they have 15 minutes by the stopwatch to come up with as many ideas as they can in answer to the question: What can be done with the belt? (Other objects can be substituted– a flashlight / a rope / an oar / a corkscrew– and props, e.g., an actual belt, can often enhance the discussion)

     4)  After 15 minutes, the facilitator rings the bell, and tells the group(s) that the ban on criticism / judgments / evaluations is over, and directs the group(s) to evaluate their ideas and select the best –most feasible– ones. With multiple groups, each group’s “best” list can be shared, then all involved can explore ways to combine “best” ideas. The final (combined) list is posted and participants are asked to rank-order them for practical usefulness.

REPEAT THE ENTIRE PROCESS WITH A REAL BUSINESS PROBLEM OR NEED SITUATION. This can be done on-the-spot, the next day, next week, or periodically. The more disciplined the facilitator is in requiring adherence to guidelines, the better the results that can be expected.  So go beat your brains in, if the storm didn’t already get to you! 

# # #  

When paper planes

fly like the wind…

     This is NOT  about being on one knee with a ring in your pocket in front of the girl of your dreams! This is NOT  about responding to some ridiculous government or academialand RFP, where you’re dealing with people who –and I don’t mean this arrogantly; it’s just a fact– have no clue about the real world of business.

     This is NOT  about adhering to RFP rules and restrictions (that only those with enormous self-restraint and no imagination will succeed at accommodating). This is about  my contention that most proposals worth their salt will fly best as a single-page paper plane!

     You’re not so sure?  When’s the last time you got a 10 or 20 or 30-page proposal to lift off? It was a nose dive into the floor, right? This is a BlackBerry/TXTMSG/WIFI/IPOD world we’re in. Twitter Tweeters do it in 140 characters!

     So stop  re-writing War & Peace to answer every request and pose an offer to every prospect!

     Let me  roll my sleeves up and put it this way (and, yes, I know it’s not a real word!):

CONCISER IS BETTER!

     Three or four one-page  proposals of some kind every week will land you more and better quality clients, jobs, accounts, projects, sales, interviews, than one 8-10 page proposal every two weeks.

     Leave the fancy binder  and tabs and Introductions and Addendum and Exhibit 2a-3 junk for the floundering corporate giant managers and lawyers and investor solicitations and business plans and R&D studies and ROI assessments.  

     You’re a small business  seeking new customers, clients, patients, associates, referrers, sales reps, suppliers, product or service sales, increased website traffic, locations, business or branding launch… seek it in one page!

     David Balasco,  the famous theatre producer, used to tell sales reps to write what they wanted on the back of a business card and if he was interested, they could meet with him. Nearly no one ever rose to the occasion.

     Of course in those days,  people didn’t think in headlines, but the point is that WHEN you can get to the point promptly, you will increase your odds for success. If you own or manage a small business, don’t try to act too big! Keep your proposals short and sweet. If prospects are reputable and want to know more, they’ll ask! If they don’t, they’re not worth your time.

     And time,  after all, is all you really have, and you have less every minute of each day.

# # #